Louisiana has recently decided to adopt an amendment to the state constitution that would stop non-American citizens from voting within the state.
The Louisiana-based CBS affiliate KNOE reported that previously the constitution permitted all Louisiana citizens to vote regardless of whether or not they were U.S. citizens. This did not stand for federal elections, as in federal elections for offices like the presidency and state, it is a requirement for all voters to be U.S. Citizens. However, non-citizens were allowed to vote in state and municipality elections so long as they were Louisiana citizens.
Despite the constitution not explicitly stating that people would need to be U.S. citizens in order to vote, there is no part of Louisiana where noncitizens were allowed to vote. This new amendment would also prevent any municipality or state from allowing non-U.S. citizens to vote.
According to State Rep. Debbie Villio (R), this amendment would just further clarify that people would need to be both citizens of Louisiana and the U.S. in order to be allowed to vote.
In both Maryland and Vermont, there are a number of towns that do allow noncitizens to cast a vote in the local election. Last year, New York also passed a similar law, but it was later struck down by a Supreme Court judge who determined that this law went against the state’s constitution.
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